Woman Unexpectedly Gives Birth Thinking She Just Had Kidney Stones

Forget spending nine months in birthing classes, setting up a crib and packing a bag for the hospital—one mom went into the hospital thinking she had kidney stones, and came out with her fourth child.

Stephanie Jaegers, 37, was having stomach pains that she suspected were kidney stones, so she and her husband, Michael, headed to the hospital to get them checked out.

“I was having these waves of cramping, that’s the best way I can explain it, and lower back pain. And anybody that I had talked to said it was kidney stones,” she tells Fox 5 in Atlanta.

The doctor suggested another possibility.

“He said something like, ‘And you’re not pregnant?’ and I was like, no, I would know,” she says. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to tell this man again that there’s no baby in here.’ ”

Stephanie, who was diagnosed with early menopause last year and was on her period that day, didn’t think there was a chance she could be pregnant. But the doctor said she wasn’t just pregnant—she was about 38 weeks and two days pregnant, and she was already in labor.

“How was this in me?” Stephanie said she asked the doctor. “[Shaun] was breech and he was sitting, and as he was sitting his little feet were up by his head, so he couldn’t wiggle, he couldn’t move. The doctor was like, that’s why you didn’t feel him.”

The couple is still in shock, but they’re thrilled to have an unexpected fourth child.

“I can’t even begin to explain to you guys the range of emotions we’ve experienced over the last 12 hours,” Michael wrote on Facebook. “I went from googling ‘kidney stone treatments’ to a panic attack over the fact that not only were we pregnant, but the baby was coming within the hour. Most parents have a good 9+ months to plan for such a blessing, we had 30 minutes notice.”

“I believe that everything happens for a reason,” Stephanie added to Fox 5. “He wasn’t in the cards, he wasn’t in the plans, but he’s meant to be here for a reason. Maybe one day I’ll understand. He’s a sweetheart; I’m glad he’s here. I wouldn’t change it for anything.”